VOORHEES — When Flyers defenseman Christian Folin walked into the practice facility Tuesday, the first face he saw was that of his old boss.

Chuck Fletcher took trips to Lowell, Massachusetts, to talk Folin out of college and into the NHL when he was general manager of the Minnesota Wild. Now he’s in Philadelphia in the same role and Folin likes the Flyers’ odds if Fletcher keeps his aggressive approach.

“We always had really good teams,” Folin said. “We always needed like one or two more pieces and he always found a way to add that. Especially with (goalie Devan) Dubnyk that one year. We were struggling and he basically turned the season around for us.”

The greetings between Fletcher and Folin were brief and the familiarity ended there on the roster. Outside of remembering interviewing Sean Couturier and Claude Giroux in their draft years and James van Riemsdyk doing his summer training in Minnesota, Fletcher hadn’t met many of the Flyers.

Even if he’s familiar with their work, he’s not familiar with the people. The introductory meeting to the new general manager also commenced a clean slate.

“Like anything in life, you only get one first impression,” defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere said. “You want to be on your game and hopefully we can string some wins (together).”

“Like he said in the meeting, he’s gonna get to know everyone and everyone’s gonna get their chance to kind of show him what they’re all about and what they can bring,” blueliner Travis Sanheim added. “That was what he was trying to get across.”

Fletcher got to town Monday night and he’s already not the newest face in the franchise. The team hired Rick Wilson as an assistant coach to take over the role of Gord Murphy, who was fired last week. Ron Hextall hired Murphy the year before Dave Hakstol came in as head coach and Murphy reported directly to Hextall, an uncomfortable situation for both Hakstol and his predecessor, Craig Berube.

Rick Wilson joined the Flyers as an assistant coach Monday.(Photo: Getty Images)

That won’t be the case this time. Hakstol was the one who made first contact with fellow North Dakota University alum Wilson last week to try and lure him out of retirement. This will be a much healthier working relationship considering they’ve known each other personally and professionally for years.

“A wealth of experience, a tremendous feel with defensemen and with the entire D-core, the ability to communicate very, very well,” Hakstol said when asked what Wilson can bring. “I think it goes beyond even our core of defensemen. I think he’ll have a great effect on our entire group as well as on our coaching staff with the experience that he has.”

“Communication” might be the key word, considering how Hextall ran his ship with little of it on a day-to-day basis.

Wilson is expected to be on the ice for Wednesday’s practice. If the players are curious what they’re in for, he has a 30-year resume in the NHL that’s at least as old as all but four people on the roster. Most are curious about Fletcher, too.

“Did a little research, like he probably did on us,” Claude Giroux said. “It’s a good way to start to get to know him and he’s been around for a while. He’s done a lot of great things in his career. I’m just excited.

“I think the best thing we can do for him to be aggressive, or whatever the situation might be, is winning. When you win, good things happen in the organization. Everything seems easier.”

There was nothing easy about Saturday night in Pittsburgh, when the Flyers ended a treacherous week with a big victory over their biggest rival. But it was a reason to feel good and they want to work toward feeling better.

After seeing Hextall and Murphy go, and Chris Pryor join them on the way out because he was tied too closely to Hextall, everyone was on edge, including the coach who didn’t know who his new boss would be or how long of a leash he’d get.

“It’s not a week you wish you’d have to go through, but hey, it’s part of what we do,” Hakstol said. “I give a lot of credit to everybody involved in terms of the front office and everyone that’s worked hard to work (through it) to this point. That being said, we have a ton of work to do. We have to work together to win hockey games.”

There isn’t much time for a team in 15th place in the Eastern Conference in December to waste. They can’t afford to have a company retreat and sing Kumbaya with their new boss.

On the fly, they’re going to try to get to know him and feel like they’re all in a fight for the playoffs together.

“When you get to know a person the most you can, you get to know his family, his friends, how he came up, how he grew up, when you get to know the real person, I think you play for that person a little more and that’s one of the reasons why this team has been pretty tight over the last five, six years,” Giroux said. “We communicate well. We know each other’s families. The dad’s trip is huge, I think, too. When you care about the person, you’re gonna play a little harder for him.”